In normal operation of an HMI technology, operators are consistently looking for any abnormal behavior or variable in the process. In many complex industrial processes, however, this is a very time-consuming task and is almost an impossibility without the aid from a tool to enable early detection in normal operations. Operators will typically scan the many numerical values on their screen(s) to get an idea of what is going on or perhaps what is about to happen in their process. In many cases, however, there are just too many variables to really make an assessment.
In the past, operators watched a number of gauges on one or more control boards that displayed real-time values of various parameters of the industrial system. Control panels have also been used with alarm lights that illuminated when alarm levels were reached. In some instances, colored lights were used to indicate alarm conditions. More recently, one or more computer screens have been used to display real-time values of parameters to operators. Various graphics have been used to display information on computer screens, including visual representations of gauges. Such gauges have included a scale and a pointer. Trade-offs have existed, however, regarding the displayed range to use for the scale. If a wide range was used, operators found it difficult to see small changes within the operating limits. If a narrow range was used, however, the scale would not show the real-time value when the real-time value was outside of the narrow range. Needs and/or potential for benefit exist for computer tools that communicate information about the operation of industrial systems to the operator more efficiently. Room for improvement exists over the prior art in these and other areas that may be apparent to a person of skill in the art having studied this document.